Pizzeria Gema Cremerie

Tout simplement le meilleur resto à mtl, la pizza est délicieuse, c’est la meilleure margharitha à mtl, c’est vraiment à conseiller, réserver avant c’est un must

Très bonnes pizzas. Ingrédients frais. Bonne liste de vins abordables. Les entrées sont intéressantes. Les deux fois, j’ai pris la pieuvre qui était dans une salade de câpres, oignons, patates. La pieuvre était croustillante.
Nous avons aussi essayé une salade de rapini qui était bien. Les calmars également.
Les pizzas sont faciles à partager et très bonnes.
L’ambiance est très plaisante. Le service est très agréable. Peut faire une belle soirée entre amis ou même un tête à tête semi-​romantique.
Il y a une petite terrasse. Nous avons attendu pour une table environ 20 – 30 minutes mais ça valait la peine.
Nous avons essayé des crèmes molles pour dessert et c’était moins intéressant. Une des glaces était une crème molle à la vanille avec arachides, mais avait un nom comme costarde glacée à la gousse de vanille avec noix rôties salées. On a aussi essayé une 2e saveur avec crème glacée twist et des miettes de chocolat. Au final, je vous conseille d’aller prendre un cornet ou un dessert ailleurs. Rien d’extraordinaire et pour 6.50 $, on peut trouver mieux.

Notre première visite, très déçu du service ²⁄₁₂ hrs au Resto, vite sur le cocktail par après l entrée, par après attente de la Pizza une bonne heure la Gem
Qui finalement avait peu de sauce de fromage et on a cherché l’ail, bref j ai du me lever pour payé
Merci

Excellente pizza, salle simplement décorée mais avec goût, chaises et banquettes de confort moyen, service correct, courtois mais pas toujours attentif, mais ce n’est qu’une pizzeria sans prétention, alors on passé. J’y retourne pour la pizza.

Service excellent. Les pizza fines sont bonnes et il y a beaucoup de variétés. Tu peux sortir avec une facture entre 15 et 20 dollars pour une pizza fine de 10 pouce excellente. Le fond de la pizza était un peu trop cuit par contre.

I came here for lunch and had a great time. The lizza was great and the atmosphere was great too! The pizza nice and thin. If you like spicy food then make sure to ask for the olio piquante.

The food was pretty good, but I was not impressed with the service. My friend and I were moved to another table (in the MIDDLE of our dinner) to make room for a larger group. We were basically told that we would have had to leave if it were not for the availability of this other table. FYI: When making a reservation on their website, it clearly states that the table is allowed for a period of 2 hours. Thanks for the favour, Gema!

Food: 1 Service: 1 Atmosphere: 2 Value: 1
TL;DR — Your money is better well spent somewhere else than here. Came for the custard, left without it and a ton of regret.
We made reservations via their website for 7 PM and arrived around 7:15 PM, after grabbing a scarce parking spot. Walked-​in and was greeted friendly enough. The seating area is fairly small, I’d say about 40 max capacity. Our server sat my wife (who is 5 months pregnant) and I in-​between a noisy family of 4 and an older couple. She opted for the chair while both our table and the older couple’s table and to be moved out of the way (interrupting their meal) so that I could sit on the bench side.
With me being the designated driver and my wife being pregnant, we just opted for water with slices of lemon. We were given our water and lemon slices which had some weird sticky reddish stain on them from cross contamination.
We waited around another 15 minutes before the waitress decided to finally pay attention to the fact I had my hand in the air ready to order. She first asked if we wanted booze, which we declined, and ordered the calamari appetizer ($ 11, Calmars Frits) to start and a Vetri pizza ($ 19, homemade mortadella, pecorino, pistachio pesto, quebec mozzarella di bufala) to share. She asked again (almost in disgust) if we wanted booze, which we declined again. In a huff, she grabbed the two wine glasses on our table and took off to the kitchen.
After about 15 – 20 minutes of waiting, our appetizer arrived. It was decently portioned and just enough for the both of us to share. It came with a couple of lemon quarters and no sauce. The batter was light and the calamari was cooked just right. We were pleased with the choice and was looking forward to the pizza.
Skip ahead 40 minutes, the couple seated 10 minutes after us was served 2 pizzas. The large group seated 25 minutes after us was served their 6 pizzas. The group sitting behind my wife also received their pizzas. The waitress said that they «had» to make the pizzas for everyone else first and mumbled the rest half-​heartedly.
Another 15 minutes and our pizza arrived. It was about 8 inches in diameter, burnt on the bottom, soaked in olive oil, soggier than a dog in a typhoon and had toppings haphazardly thrown on top.
It tasted terrible. There must have been a whole garlic bulb in the pizza, the pistachios only added a nutty texture, the olive oil made the bread chewy, the cheese/​meat couldn’t overcome the garlic. If I was blindfolded and ate this pizza, I would have thought I was eating a pita bread that was soaking in a tub of garlic oil and olive oil for an hour. It actually made me want to have Pizza Pizza to help blank-​out the memory of what I just put in my mouth. Hell, I would rather of spent $ 19 on a pita smothered in natto beans and durian with a shot of Buckley’s cough syrup to wash it all down with. That bad.
Food aside, service was terrible. We got the impression they were only interested in serving larger groups and heavy drinkers. Not once did the server ask how our meal was going or apologized for anything.
After waiting around for 20 minutes with looks of disappointment on both our faces and a lot of annoyance. The server came back and asked if we were done with our dishes. Not out of common courtesy, no. She asked because she wanted us to pay and leave so a larger group could be sat down at the table. Instead, we decided to sit there for another couple of minutes, trying to decide if we wanted to give them more of our money for the dessert (frozen custard) we made the trip here for originally.
Because we didn’t take-​off. The server asked the couple beside us (who was in the midst of conversation and their meal) to get-​up and move over.
At this point, we had enough and decided this place didn’t deserve any more money nor patronage. So we paid and left (with no tip).
Stefano Faita and Michele Forgione are probably living it up somewhere sunny right now; as their restaurant and reputation turn into the stuff that was clogged/​over-​flowing in the toilet.

J’aime les pizzas. D’amour. Je considère goûter toutes les pizzas des restaurants montréalais comme une vraie mission. Une visite chez Gema, situé au centre de la Petite Italie, était inévitable.
J’ai goûté à la pizza Hawaïenne qui était bonne et originale. De bonnes pizzas Hawaïenne, c’est quand même plutôt rare. Celle servie chez Gema est garnie de jambon à l’érable fumé et est délicieusement piquante. J’ai aussi pu goûter la pizza aux pepperonis, qui, malgré la qualité certaine de la viande, n’était pas à mon goût. Globalement, je préfère une pâte un peu plus épaisse que celle cuisinée chez Gema.
Le service, à notre arrivée, était vraiment froid et presque arrogant: «si vous n’êtes pas content de la place qui vous a été attribués, vous pouvez toujours partir». Meh. Par la suite, on a été plus respectueux. Étrange. Le décor est signé par un designer montréalais à succès. Certains peuvent apprécier, d’autres, non.

Casual dining done well. We split a Jenn Special (pomodoro pizza with garlic), Impasto pizza, which included their homemade porchetta & a Jean Talon salad and squid entrée. Everything was very good — although I must admit I prefer the pizza dough at Bottega. The wine was also very well priced and best of all the frozen custard swirl was divine. I look forward to going back!

Great Pizza, great price and great service. The pizza, was very good. The selection of options is great in a pizza competitive corner of the city. The dough is no Bottega (sorry) but everything else is great. The prices are very good too. Last but not least is the ice-​cream of course. No need to mention it — killer.

I really like pizzeria Gema and would give it an additional half star if I could. The pizza flavour options are really unique and well thought out. The only issue I have ever had is that, at times, my pizza was overcooked (so crispy, it borderland on cracker). The custard is also a great dessert and I have been known to grab one at their take out window during the summer.

Décor ⁴⁄₅ food ⁵⁄₅ service ⁴⁄₅
The two of us had showed up the day before at 830pm on a Friday and we’re refused seating because we didn’t have reservations. We were sad but made reservations for the next day at 7pm, only spot available was at the bar. The service was quick and courteous despite the full house, but we were disappointed that our bartender didn’t bother to tell us the specials of the day. It was only after we ordered that we noticed the mini chalkboard menu. I had the Emilia pizza (held the lardo) and a few bites of my partner’s Capricciosa pizza, as other Unilocalers have mentioned, the crust was perfection. Thin, never soggy, slightly crispy at the bottom perfection. Of course we had to finish off with the frozen custard, we took the swirl with some Baci crumbs as toppings. Delicious. It’s looks like soft serve ice cream but the texture is more consistent.
1 Emilia pizza 16 $
1 Capricciosa 17 $
1 frozen custard + 1 topping 6.50 $
1 Sunny ginger cocktail of the day 8 $
1 bloody Ceasar 8 $
Total bill with 15% tip 73.39 $
Overall I honestly have to say it was one of the very best pizzas I’ve had. The prices are very good for the quality of food that you get and the service was quick.

Une des meilleure pizza que j’ai goûté à Mtl! L’hawaïenne était particulièrement délicieuse.

Cet endroit est hyper attachant, de par le petit local vu sur la belle et vivante rue Dante et aussi les serveuse sont sympathique et attachantes, nous reviendrions seulement pour les observer.
Les
Pizzas sont bonnes, spécialement la Emilia.

Having seen Stefano Faita’s cooking show on CBC & now co-​owner of Gema, I had high hopes for this restaurant. Unfortunately, I left very disappointed.
This is why…
Being a foodie, I’ve tasted quite a few of the top restaurants in Montréal, and always looking into exploring good food in Montréal. Gema’s meals tasted quite ordinary, nothing extraordinary or tastier than most Italian restaurants I’ve been to. Which are quite a few!
The pizza I had, was just «Ok» Yes, I ordered a tomato and cheese pizza. Nothing fancy about this. Which the pizza on the menu is called «1889» The crust was crusty and well cooked. Great! The cheese, well. I’m still looking for it. I’m not a fan of greasy super cheesy pizzas, but I’m also not a fan of pizzas that are mostly tomato sauce with little to no flavour and I have to search for the cheese. Mine only had four spots of cheese throughout the entire pizza. Along with three very fresh and tasty basil leaves, yet only three. On the menu, it said the cheese is Quebec Mozzarella di Bufala (Buffalo Mozzarella) Wonderful, I love local products! The taste was not creamy, or silky as it should be. Instead it was overcooked and crispy. The little bit of cheese that I was able to taste. All this for $ 13.00
The service was Ok. Not bad or anything to very happy with. Simply just Ok.
The siting chairs, that was my biggest issue of the entire restaurant. When you pay $ 50+ for a meal, you’d expect something better than the very simple metal chairs you often see in school gyms. Yes, they fit with their theme of the décor, yet I cannot believe they never thought about comfort. These chairs are flat, no cushion or a nice back rest. Much less an arm rest. Just a simple piece of metal shaped into a chair. After 30 minutes, I was past the level of discomfort. The chair was simply unbearable. Yet, I couldn’t leave in the middle of my dinner. Out of respect for my guests.
Now onto their desserts. Overall not a large or impressive variety. Yes, they are known for their «custard» ice cream ($ 5.00) with different sauces ($ 1.50) extra each. Their ice cream had a lovely vanilla bean flavour, and not too sweet. I chose chocolate sauce as an extra, I only received a very small drizzle. Disappointing again! Their ice cream, well nothing out of the ordinary from a texture of a soft serve ice cream, expect that it’s more flavorful.
The waitress specified that we received a child size portion at a discounted price. Thank-​you! (I did not order that size!) due to the small amount of ice cream they had. The discount, was only 20 cents! A discount not even worth mentioning after paying in total of $ 50+ for the entire night.
Overall very disappointing. I will think twice whether to give it a second chance or to return at all.

Resto d’ambiance familiale avec des pizzas classiques d’Italie et aussi des recettes créatives du chef Stefano et de chefs invités.

Went with a friend 2 Tuesdays ago. We ordered the Yann pizza, yum! delicious, we both loved it, we also took Suppli Elena and Pallote Marcovecchio also mouth-​watering & delicious. Service was attentive and on the ball.
The down sides were: the music was too loud, had to talk really loud to hear each other and the portion sizes leave much to be desired, the rice & meat balls were the size of a medium egg. We both loved the grated cheese garnishing the appetizers.

i think i fell victim to being far too over-​excited about this place.
having worked in a couple of pizzerias (both thin crust – neapolitan and purveyors of our canadian bastardization of the grease wheel alike) there are some crucial elements that i am unrelenting on.
our salad to start was nice– market sourced and went well with the arancini–
the pizza– not the most complicated by any stretch, but not a margherita had a cured ham and vegetables. the problem was, all of the vegetables were placed on the ham and either a) slid off, or b) formed pools of water that then soaked through the dough. the dough itself has extremely salty (though im willing to chalk some of that up to the ham), and not nearly cooked enough in the middle to maintain the semblance of rigidity (i wasnt expecting a one hander, but when it «mushes on the fork» as opposed furls, there’s a slight problem).
im willing to give it all a second shot, just because i want to like this place more than i did but perhaps im better served trying somewhere else out first for my thin crust fix.

For a quick mediocre pizza, this place is pretty ok. I would have given a ²⁄₅ for my own pizza (Bari) but my companions enjoyed theirs slightly more (³⁄₅).
The crust is too thin and lost its softness in the dough. Consequently, it burned the outter crust. I’ve had must better crust and true Italians know that a good pizza is ALL about the crust.
The topping variety was pretty good, not much choice for vegetarians though. Hope you like pizza margherita.
The restaurant was accommodating. We dropped in and they had reservations in 30 minutes but allowed us to have a pizza if we could be done by the time the reservations came in. Also, saw them conjure up a chair to squeeze someone in at the bar. Nice.
Inexpensive and a good place to drop in when everything else in little Italy is full. ;)
Also, they ARE open on Sunday. Unilocal shows them as closed.

A gathering of Unilocal friends brought us here before a Unilocal event and it was a blast!
I’m generally not a fan of chaotic pizzas with too many toppings so I went with their safe «1889» Pizza that consisted of the basics + basil and it hit the spot quite nicely. The crust was fresh and tasty, the ingredients were very good and all in all a really solid Italian pizza. They offer Brio so that’s a plus, at least for me. For dessert I went with their cappuccino as well as their chocolate gelato and both were very good.
The resto is small but warmly decorated. It is located near busy St-​Laurent and Little Italy… so expect parking to get interesting in this area.
The service was friendly but the dining experience did take longer and I would have liked and I would have appreciated if I were asked if I wanted another drink or not.
In conclusion, one cannot deprive themselves to such a unique experience one can get at Gema. Italian pizza AND gelato? Why are you still reading this review? Bookmark it and experience this yourself.

After hearing that Michele Forgione and Stefano Faita were teaming up again to bring Montrealers a pizzeria I was eager to try it. Gema is a small restaurant right next to their other venture, Impasto. It has a very casual feel to it and is a perfect place to come on a night when you’re not up for anything super fancy. The menu is limited to the basics (salads, appetizers and pizzas) but they focus on doing them well.
There is a decent variety of pizzas here and they do them well. I went for the Impasto which had porchetta, peppers, porchetta and salsa verde. I loved the flavour that the cacciocavallo added however the porchetta was way too salty for my liking. Their crust is excellent! They do a thin crust pizza which is my personal preference. Tet the right balance between ingredients and crust so that it doesn’t become soggy and fall apart.
As with the rest of the menu when it comes to dessert they have a limited but delicious menu. They usually have a dessert special and frozen custard. You can choose from vanilla, Belgian chocolate or a combination of them for the frozen custard. They also have a variety of toppings you can get on the custard like Baci crumble, chocolate sauce, etc. I enjoyed the swirl quite a bit but in the end the chocolate custard won out as my favourite!
The prices were competitive compared to other pizzerias in Montréal. My bill was close to $ 40 but that was for pizza, dessert, cocktail and tip. I certainly felt that I got my money’s worth coming here.
The service was fairly good. Our waitress was very friendly and made great recommendations for us. She was also attentive throughout the meal.
Given how it’s a small restaurant I would either try and go early or make a reservation. We got there for 6 and it wasn’t too busy but by the time we left business had picked up significantly. It was also a Wednesday so I imagine weekends would be considerably busier.

Je n’ai jamais été une grande amatrice de pizza. J’ai grandi avec les Délissios à croûte beaucoup trop épaisse et les thin crusts qui goûtaient le carton sorties du four. Sinon, il y avait toujours les pizzas froides de l’épicerie sur lesquelles on rajoutait du baloney et du fromage marbré. Ou les fameuses pizza pochettes, qui annonçaient systématiquement une langue brûlée au 3e degré pour les 8 prochaines heures. Au final, j’avais goûté à de la pizza dénaturée de toutes les manières possibles, mais jamais à de la vrai pizza. C’est là où Gema change tout.
Voisine du fameux Impasto, restaurant italien sous la direction du même chef, cette petite pizzeria se loge dans la petite italie, proche du marché jean talon. Avec tout l’émois que son ouverture avait causé, ma nature curieuse n’en pouvait plus d’aller goûter à ce qui devait être ”la meilleure pizza italienne de Montréal”. Le soir de ma fête on se déplace assez tôt pour arriver avant les foules (ils prennent les réservations maintenant, je vous recommande de passer un appel!), et le coup de foudre eu lieu. Quelques dizaines de chaises sans plus, des serveurs souriants, une atmosphère chaleureuse et l’odeur de la pâte fraîchement cuite. Une belle carte des vins, des bières québécoises (dont une bière maison rafraîchissante!) et un menu court mais efficace. Ils ont également un chef invité qui, à chaque mois, vient concocter une pizza signature. La première fois où j’y ai été, nous avons eu droit à Martin Picard et sa pizza au foie gras et tortellinis. L’autre, le Moishes nous offrait une pizza au carpaccio de smoked meat. Mais né vous inquiétez pas, les pizzas du menu régulier n’ont pas à rougir face à ces créations éphémères. Par contre, une fois en bouche, qu’est-ce que ça donne?
La première mordée nous régale d’une croûte mince et savoureuse; molle, tendre, imbibée des saveurs de la garniture. Si délicieuse, qu’on en mange même les croûtes. Les calmars frits en entrée sont sublimes; croustillants et savoureux, encore plus avec un trait de jus de citron frais. Et que dire du dessert… Une costarde glacée de la Laiterie Chagnon, onctueuse vanille ou laiteux chocolat, qu’on assaisonne de garnitures italiennes sucrées. Presque tous ce qui est sur la carte est fait maison; Croûte, viandes, charcuteries, sauces, pestos, légumes marinés… j’irais même jusqu’à croire que le seul produit acheté est le fromage (et encore). De ce fait, lors de votre prochaine envie de pizza, au lieu d’ouvrir votre congélateur, laissez-​vous impressionner par leur pepperoni fromage. Elle est à des miles de la Delissio congelée, promis juré.

Bonne pizz, mais rien de marquant. L’entrée de polpette était bonne. Pour la pizza, on nous avait recommandé la pizza peperonni, mais on est resté sur notre faim. Le dessert toutefois est un MUST! On s’est régalé! Bön service, cool ambiance. Bön choix pour un repas pas trop cher à deux.

Ok, I really wanted to LOVE LOVE LOVE this place! I had heard sooo many great things! I read Sarah Musgraves article in the Gazette that promised so much… but…my friends and I were kind of disappointed. I will grant them the delicious pizza crust– great, taste! However, the toppings for vegetarians is not that inspiring– we ordered two pizzas that we couldn’t tell apart. The winner was the mint and 4 cheese pizza.
Don’t bother getting the salad there… seriously it was the smallest plate I have ever received for $ 8! It was just lettuce, some fennel and red onion (not like the description in Sarah Musgraves article either so was disappointed) But we were forewarned by our waiter when we asked if it was «shareable” — he said it was small. I just didn’t realise he meant two bites worth small. I always appreciate a good pizza place that has a generous salad I can eat along side the pizza, like Pizzaoile’s big salad with chickpeas, eggs, swiss cheese in it. Regarless. we found the wine was delicious (Syrah by the botte) and our waiter (Olivier) was AMAZING, the atmosphere was lovely too– we just weren’t WOWED by the pizza like we hoped to be. Oh lastly, you have to get the custard for dessert!!! We got the chocolate with bacci topping (upon waiter’s recommendation) it was deelish!!!

Food is very good. Price is comparable to Bottega, its closest competitor. Service is slow and not very good. Atmosphere is wonderful
I would recommend going here if you want something trendy, tasty and have a lot of time to kill.

In my opinion this is simply the best pizza in Montréal. I cannot get enough. The shandy with the lemons is a great drink as well. Finish the meal off with the frozen custard. Excellent food, service and atmosphere. Love this place.

i’ve never really went for pizza, it was always about that frozen custard! with cold season upon us, the takeout window is now closed and you need to head in for takeout. i was in the mood for more of that custard after finding out the place i wanted to try for mtl à table is full.
not to feel too weird, i ordered a takeout pizza (bari) to go alongside my cup of deliciousness. besides, to know if its good pizza, you have to do takeout when its cold outside. you know, to see if the crust will hold and still be good when warm/​cold-​ish. well, i have to say, besides the toppings being cold, obviously, that crust is still magnificent even cold! full of flavor and still chewy enough. i won’t comment on the toppings as they are now cold and cold sausage, not the greatest thing.
as for the custard, well, i got misled. when they first opened, i inquiry about putting all the available toppings together and was willing to pay for it which they said you definitely could. apparently, you can’t do that now. i was so going to pay for it :(anyway, still plenty good and hits the spot just right.
now excuse me while i go grease stefano for an «all the toppings» option!

Superbe nouvelle petite pizzeria dans la Petite-​Italie, allez-​y, c’est si bon. J’y étais un midi en semaine, et c’était plein à craquer. Et pour cause; la pizza est délicieuse! Pour 21 $, tu peux commander la table d’hôte qui inclut une entrée, une pizza et une costarde glacée. Pour les plus petites faims, il est possible de né commander que 2 services pour 18 $.
L’entrée: il y avait le choix entre des calmars frits et une salade Jean-​Talon (cute nom), qui était débilement bonne. De fines lamelles de betteraves couronnées d’un fromage maison incroyablement goûteux. L’eau me vient à la bouche rien que d’y penser.
Il y a 4 choix de pizzas, j’en ai goûté 2. La 1889 est une margherita toute simple mais magique; ma préférée. La Impasto est au piment fort et porchetta; très bonne aussi.
Et pour terminer, la oh-combien-délicieuse-j’en-mangerais-toute-ma-vie costarde glacée. Comme une crème glacée, mais en plus soyeux et goûteux. Grand choix de garniture, on a suivi la recommandation du serveur et c’était sublime. Il est également possible de la prendre pour emporter, il y a un comptoir donnant directement sur la rue St-​Dominique.
Mention spéciale à la déco épurée mais tellement intéressante. Je n’ai pas été surprise quand j’ai su que c’était Zébulon Perron qui a signé le design.
C’est wow, j’y reviendrai c’est sûr.

3 service lunch is $ 21 and crazy delicious, which is why there was a lineup of people at 11:57 on a sunny Thursday afternoon at this beautiful corner in Little Italy waiting for the restaurant to open at noon. It’s a beautiful room with friendly charming service and awesome cocktails. We shared the Jean Talon Market salad of the day, which was mostly bright beautiful delicate beets with a scoop of homemade ricotta so good we were moaning with an awkward intensity, but so were most people around us so it was cool.
We had two pizzas, the Impasto and the Gema version of the classic Margherita. The crust is the best in town, so there’s that. It’s buttery and light and crispy and everything good. The Impasto has these fresh hot still crispy red peppers, and thin garlicky slices of pork. I don’t know what else to say about the pizzas, it makes me emotional, just go get some.
Third we had the frozen custard, creamy and light and drizzled in caramel sauce. Full five stars, crazy good, what else can I say.

Je suis allée à deux reprises à la pizzeria Gema.
Ma première expérience fut désagréable! Le serveur avait une attitude de vendeur et nous incitait fortement à commander plus d’entrées et à essayer leur fameuse crème glacée. Après de nombreux (!) refus de notre part, le serveur incitait toujours. Il était tout simplement irritant.
Heureusement les pizzas étaient délicieuses! Le resto offre des pizzas plus traditionnelles et d’autres plus extravagantes (celle au prosciutto confit et poireau est particulièrement bonne!). Les calmars frits, en entrée, sont bons, mais une petite sauce en accompagnement aurait été appréciée.
Nous avions tellement aimé la pizza que nous voulions y retourner, mais la possibilité de rencontrer le même serveur irritant nous faisait hésiter… Nous avons tout de même décidé d’y aller. Malheureusement, ce serveur était toujours présent, mais, heureusement, un autre employé nous a servi. Cette fois-​ci, le service était impeccable! Nous avons essayé la crème glacée et elle est hallucinante! Le resto est également muni d’un comptoir à l’extérieur pour la crème glacée. Il est donc possible d’y arrêter pour prendre simplement une crème.
Lorsque nous y sommes allés, il était impossible de réserver. Il faut donc prévoir un temps d’attente.

Location: Little Italy — on Dante, east of St. Laurent. It’s also right across the street from Impasto! The closest subways are Jean-​Talon and de Castelnau. Street parking is available and usually easy to find if you dine early.
The place: Small and intimate, lots of wood, a cool bar. I liked the space a lot. It’s more casual than Impasto.
The food: If the name hasn’t given it away already, this is a pizza joint, and therefore, you go for the pizza — un point, c’est tout. Forgione offers up a few different varieties of pizza — not too many so that you feel overwhelmed and not so few that you feel like there aren’t enough choices. We started with an order of suppli that were on par with those I had in Italy. These were delicious and you could really taste the cheese, which was of a smokey variety (I forget the name). Now for the pizza: My pick was the pizza of the month — they had me at pistachio pesto and home-​made mortadella. The scent of the meat wafting into my nostrils practically had me salivating before the waiter set my plate down on the table. I couldn’t wait to dig in! Unlike some of the other reviews, my pizza didn’t lack in toppings; the surface of the pizza was covered with mortadella, had the right amount of pesto and not too much cheese (how I like it). The crust was fresh and thin, and the overall pizza was absolutely delicious. I would definitely have this again. My date had the Bari — tomato sauce, Zampina sausage, rapini, cheese. Now, her pizza was looking a little bare and it definitely could have used more sausage. Flavor-​wise, it was good but not as tasty as mine. I should mention that Gema make their own pepperoni and sausage as well as the mortadella, and it shows (or tastes, in this case).
The waiter basically hustled us into getting the frozen custard for dessert. No idea if they were other dessert options because he kept ignoring my request to see the menu. After boasting that Gema was the only place in town with frozen custard, blah blah blah, I finally just ordered the damn thing. Both my date and I shared the same thought — this tastes exactly like ice cream. So when my date pointed this out to the waiter, he replied ‘well it’s ice cream!’ OK, so which is it? Custard or ice cream? Anyway, I don’t normally order ice cream for dessert because frankly, it’s ordinary and I can have that anywhere, anytime. The home-​made Baci that topped the custard/​ice cream/​frozen thing was great.
Service: I’m on the fence here. We were seated quickly and were well attended to — our water was topped up regularly and the wait staff checked on us regularly. However our waiter, though very good at his job, gave off a little attitude that just occasionally rubbed us the wrong way. Not enough to dock stars, however. Overall, the service was good.
Price point: Wine, shared appy, pizza, custard/​ice cream/​frozen thing + macchiato ran me $ 37.

Ever since Stefano Faita and Michele Forgione of Impasto announced their second project would be a pizzeria, I have been eagerly anticipating its opening. The level of craft showed from them at Impasto left me no doubts that their approach of pizza would worth the wait. Each instagram post from Chef Forgione of his test runs made me more and more excited as we saw the level of perfectionism in its purest form. This pizza would be no slouch. Finally, at long last, I could find out for myself. Pizzeria Gema opened up last month just across the street from Impasto in the heart of Little Italy making the corner of Dante and St-​Dominique an happening culinary corner.
Gema itself is a relatively small restaurant — all of about 40 seats probably and they don’t take reservations, so you may have to wait to get in. In our case, we waited about 30 minutes. The nice part is that they will take your phone number down and call you so you can go from a walk or grab a drink elsewhere in the meantime. If you prefer, there is a takeout window on the side where you order a pizza to-​go or some frozen custard. The interior is sparse but clean — old wood panels on the wall, aged hardwood on the floors with a weird light «tree» in the middle of the room adding some color to the space. The other focus point is the bar with its marble countertop although I got a good laugh that the bar chairs are the same Ikea ones I have in my apartment. The space isn’t a looker like its neighbour Impasto but that’s not an issue for me.
The menu is small and concise. A few entrees, 8 or so pizza options and some frozen custard for dessert. As a starter, we went with the fried calamari. A nice portion of fresh calamari with a good crunch to them. They are served with a couple of lemon wedges, no mayo because they don’t need any sauce to enhance flavour. The calamari have plenty of flavours all by themselves.
On the pizza side, we got 2 pizzas to enjoy. The first one was their basic «1889» margarita pizza with tomato sauce, fior di latte and fresh basil. The second one, because I am a huge meat-​lovers fan, was the Giovanni Deluxe — tomato sauce, zampina, pepperoni, porchetta and lardo. Boy, did these pizzas not disappoint… the pizza crust is just insane. Ridiculous. Whatever positive superlative you want to use applies to this dough. A nice crisp seer on the exterior without a single burnt spot to be seen… and completely soft and moist inside. This level of dough mastery deserves the highest praise. Props to you Chef.
And we haven’t even gotten to the toppings yet. The classic margherita was excellent — the tomato sauce was tangy, the cheese creamy and rich, the basil brought that freshness and the overall ratio on the pizza was excellent — none of the ingredients were too present or not present enough. As for the Giovanni deluxe: house made pepperoni, the porchetta from Impasto, zampina, lardo… this pizza had me from the description. Great combo of fatty rich meats on top of the base margherita. Simply heavenly. I just wished it had been bigger so I could enjoy it some more.
Whatever you do however, make sure that you have room left for dessert because Gema has frozen custard… not ice cream but custard. The difference comes in terms of a richer, creamier texture which personally bought to mind a creamy version of Dairy Cream which hit childhood nostalgia for me every time. Gema has chocolate or vanilla so of course, we went with a twist of the two. There is also a handful of topping options — we went with crumbled baci, mixed nuts and butterscotch sauce. A perfect dessert for a pizzeria.
Once again, Chefs Faita and Forgione hit it out of the park. Gema is a wonderful addition to the pizza scene in Montréal and for me, is currently the champion hands down. That crust means business. If they offered delivery to the McGill Ghetto, I would seriously be a weekly caller. At present, I will definitely be a regular visitor because they are other topping combinations I need to try and that pizza is too good to pass up for too long.
Cheers!

Une belle surprise. Vraiment. Bön service. J’aime beaucoup la pizza Damman. J’y retourne